Pardini SP Bullseye Edition ammo choice

[j danielsson]

No squibs involved. Promise.

[BEA]

The max length for 22 LR according to SAAMI is 1.000. The few rounds of CCI that I measured were about .990 to .992. A Pardini magazine measuring from front to back is about 1.005ish...it is hard to get an exact measurement. So, a CCI round will fit in the mag but it leaves very little extra room, even if the round is firmly seated against the small hump on the backside of the magazine, which isn't always going to happen. As a comparison, a Model 41 mag measures about 1.025 from front to back. This additional .025 makes all the difference. Eley Tenex measures about .975. The Pardini is designed for European target ammo as evidenced by this tight magazine tolerance. I too shoot CCI SV velocity, and it shoots good. Sometimes I will get a failure to come up out of the mag. The best way to combat this is to keep your mags clean by taking them apart, and to store your ammo with the bullet upward so if it gets a little warm, the lube will not drift toward the nose and make the OAL a few thousands longer. The bottom line is this...CCI ammo is NOT out of spec; the Pardini mag is NOT out of spec either. However, they both crowd the spec and therefore there will be feed problems at times.

[BEA]

I had a lengthy conversation with one of the rim fire engineers at a trade show. We discussed the posibility of making the OAL of the CCI 22 ammo shorter, even .010 shorter. That is all it would take. From a manufacturing standpoint, it would be an easy change...just adjust the bullet nose forming part of the die to make the nose a little shorter. This is an adjustment that would likely take very little time. I suggested to him "well, just do it!" Well, it is not that simple. Justification for design change has to be submitted to engineering, testing has to be conducted to evaluate if the bullet design change effects ballistics...across all the lines in which that bullet is used. They run millions, literally millions per day. I would not want to be the one to go to bat for this change and try to justify it for such a small portion of their market, for the sake of one pistol, (especially when their existing ammo is within SAAMI spec) any more than I would want to approach Mr Pardini and ask him to redesign his mag well and mags for the sake of one ammo brand.

[-TT-]

BEA, SK brand .22lr also measures about the length you want and shoots well in the SP, but if you want to stick with CCI why not simply adjust the rounds yourself? You can make a jig quite easily that would allow you to shave 10 mils off the nose, or simply tap them to bring them down in OAL. It's a super small adjustment and the lead is malleable.

[BEA]

I can understand that thought, but I think it would get extremely laborious to have to whack every 22 round with a hammer or forming die of some sort, and it would be very concerning to surrounding competitors on the line. CCI SV works fine for me most of the time, and it seems when I most often have an issue is in cool weather when the bullet lube is harder and less slick. I always have another brand of ammo with me just in case for TF and RF.

[JFuller]

After carefully disassembling and carefully cleaning my mags I now can shoot any length and any make in my SP.
The mags didn't appear dirty but I'm amazed with the result from just cleaning them.
It seems that only shorter shells work well in a "dirty" mag, and the one I'm leaning towards is the S&B in sv, lowest cost too.

[Dipnet]

I've started using Aquila Super Extra SV ammo; it is quite accurate, a little hotter (1130 fps), a little dirty, and inexpensive (~$219 per case, shipped; [url]https:/ammoseek.com/ammo/22lr/Aguila?ikw=standard%20velocity[/url]. I've shot about 1.5 cases of the ammo and experienced zero squibs. The comment about dirtiness is marginally warranted at best (I've not made a systematic comparison to other brands). I give the ammo high marks on all attributes that matter.

A buddy started shooting it in his model 41 but based on my mediocre experience with Aquila pistol match, I initially snubbed my nose. However, after trying a box, I've never looked back. I think Pistol King is slightly more accurate at 50 yards, at least that untested inference is what I told myself to justify buying a brick of PK for big matches. I might be wrong about that. Dipnet

[oldcaster]

It seems that every pistol is an entity to itself as far as which ammo it likes. Some ammo consistently does better in most guns but no guarantees. For some people the less the recoil without alibis is the best they can use even though it might not be as accurate. Seldom do rounds lack decent accuracy so amount of recoil and lack of alibis can be the most important.

[TonyT]

I have not shot bulseye pistol for a decade but my Walther GSP ate any ammo without a single malfunction. When Iswitched to a Pardini SP I found many malfunctions with CCI SV but none with the Wolf MT or SKJagd line of ammo. I atributed the difference to the rather heavy lube on the CCI ammo.